Soil working and site preparation is important for the establishment and survival of cultivated crops. In the absence of adequate soil preparation, crops may struggle because of poor physical soil condition, in particular soil compaction. Compacted soils are not easily penetrated by plant root, which may struggle to assimilate the water and nutrients needed for growth and production. In turn, this leads to a general undesirable loss of plant vigor, and less than optimal performance. The condition of the soil is therefore a limiting factor on the production capacity of the area.
In general, soil ripping is conducted to improve soil condition and create a friable soil that roots of plants are able to penetrate and establish. The roots of any plant need to be encouraged so that they anchor the seedling and grow deep to access water and nutrients. However, current equipment used is not site specific. By contrast, the present invention allows for variability in the type of soil amelioration during use of the tool by reference to soil type and by reference to a soil map database.
Mounding is conducted in conjunction with or following ripping. In effect a raised, friable soil bed is created. This technique improves the benefits of ripping by enhancing water retention, greater soil depth and uniformity of crop.
Single pass tillage implements are known and have been used to perform both shallow and deeper tillage in a single pass. Single pass equipment provides considerable time efficiencies compared with conducting separate operations in multiple passes.
However, in any one area in which cultivation is to be established the soil condition and soil characteristics may vary considerably. Time taken to complete a task is frequently critical in the establishment of a cultivated area and it is hard for a land manager to make more than a relatively crude assessment of the variability of an area of land and of the varying requirement that the soil may have for treatment. The difficulty of this task is exacerbated by the fact that equipment used to perform these vital tasks is of a specialized nature.
In most cases the capital cost of equipment is considerable. This is particularly the case when the equipment is used on only a seasonal basis, or perhaps only as a once off in initial establishment of a cultivated area. Furthermore, the skills required to operate and maintain such equipment are typically beyond the available resources of most landholders. Accordingly, land cultivation is frequently carried out on a contract basis.
Tools and cultivation methods are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,626,401, incorporated herein by reference, issued to the same inventor of the present improvement (the '401 patent). The conventional tool of the '401 patent, and as shown in FIG. 1 of the present application, includes two shanks mounted to a frame which can be towed by a tractor with two following rollers behind the shanks. Pivotally attached to the shank is a wing member directly engaged with a rod of a ram for rotating the wing.